Final Curtain (film)

Final Curtain
Written byEd Wood
Directed byEd Wood
StarringDuke Moore
Dudley Manlove
Jenny Stevens
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes1
Production
ProducersEd Wood
Anthony Cardoza
Tom Mason[1]
Running time22 minutes
Original release
Release1957 (1957)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Final Curtain was a 22-minute television pilot written and directed by Ed Wood in 1957. It starred Duke Moore as an actor wandering an empty theater after dark, where he is haunted by creepy sounds and eerie sights. The film is narrated by Dudley Manlove. Both Moore and Manlove also appear in Wood's cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space. Wood had hoped to use the film as the pilot for a television series he intended to produce called Portraits of Terror.[2]

Some scenes where the actor explores the theater were later inserted into Wood's 1959 film, Night of the Ghouls, with a voiceover narration designed to make it fit the story better.[citation needed]

For years, the complete version of Final Curtain was considered a lost film, until a copy was discovered by Jason Insalaco, great-nephew of actor Paul Marco (who had appeared in several Ed Wood projects).[3] The restored film was premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 23, 2012 and is now available on DVD.[4]

  1. ^ "Final Curtain (1957)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-02-03.
  2. ^ "Never seen 1950s Ed Wood movie recovered". inmovies.ca. Archived from the original on January 24, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  3. ^ Lyons, Charles (February 5, 2012). "Sun Never Quite Sets on Work of Ed Wood". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
  4. ^ "Ed Wood's Lost Film Final Curtain". slamdance.festivalgenius.com. 2012.